


I'll Be Home for Christmas

by phoenixflight



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Christmas, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Loneliness, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-28
Updated: 2012-12-28
Packaged: 2017-11-22 19:05:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/613213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixflight/pseuds/phoenixflight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jamie is almost done with college and hasn't been home in more than a year. Back in Burgess, Jamie is feeling lonely and out of place, and wishing for someone he used to dream about.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Be Home for Christmas

Jamie put the car in park, and turned the key in the ignition. Beneath him the rumble of the engine died, and he sat in the sudden silence, staring down the street at the colored lights. The familiar houses and trees were covered in a layer of snow, pristine and glittering, except where tires had left muddy tracks through the street. Looking at his parents’ front porch, he huffed out a breath and reached for the door handle. 

Grabbing his bag out of the back seat, he slammed the car door and made his way up the driveway, walking slowly, cautious of ice on the concrete, but also reluctant to reach the bright lights of the porch. He hadn’t been back here in a year and a half. Last summer he’d stayed out in California, doing an internship at a design firm and last Christmas he had gone home with Rob to Portland. 

The porch steps creaked underfoot. He didn’t want to think about that. 

The front door flew open before he could reach it, and his little sister launched herself into his arms. “Jamie!” 

Managing not to stumble backward on the slippery steps, he wrapped his arms around her. “Hey Soph.” She was a senior this year, but still so small that he could tuck his chin on top of her head easily. 

“Sophie, shut the door!” his mom called, and then she was standing in the doorway, holding a ladle. “Jamie! You made it. Come inside both of you, you’re letting the heat out.” 

“Hi mom.” Jamie crossed the porch and stepped inside, with Sophie trailing after him. The house smelled like roast beef and spice cookies. 

“Give me a hug, dear.” She felt smaller than he remembered as well. “I’ve missed you Jamie. It’s good to have you home.” 

He swallowed. “It’s good to be home,” he said, even though his chest felt tight, and he felt big and awkward in the familiar surroundings. 

“Go on into the dining room,” his mother said, taking his coat. “We’re almost ready to eat.” 

“Ok, mom.” 

“How was work this summer?” Sophie asked as he toed off his shoes, unwound his damp scarf and hung it beside his coat. 

“Well, I wasn’t earning any money,” he said, smiling wryly, “but I really enjoyed it. I learned a lot. What about you? How was your... what was it, science camp?” 

“Marine biology. It was great! We got to go out in the research vessel and take sonograms, and I got to help do acidity tests...” He tuned her out as he followed her through the living room and only caught the last part, “... my boyfriend Tyler.” 

“What?” But it was obvious. There was a teenage boy he’d never seen in the dining room, rising to shake his hand, and Sophie was beaming at him. As he took the boy’s hand he couldn’t help thinking that two years ago today he had introduced his family to his first serious boyfriend. 

His dad came in with the roast, saving him from awkward small talk with his kid sister’s high school boyfriend. Sophia was almost – _god_ \- 18, but he still thought of her as a baby. 

His parents talked about work, and asked about his classes and the internship, and Sophie chattered about her own college plans, and everyone was careful not to mention Rob and Jamie spent the entire meal trying to stab his eyes out with a fork. 

When his mom went to get the pudding for dessert he excused himself for the bathroom, but grabbed his scarf instead and slipped out the backdoor. 

The windows cast bright yellow rectangles on the snow, lying in glittering drifts over the lawn. Chill wind bit through his shirt and his breath billowed in the air. There was a strip of deck about a foot wide where the eaves overhead kept snow from falling, and Jamie curled his stocking toes on the rough surface of the welcome mat. 

Bare feet in the snow... 

Jamie shoved his hands in his pockets and tucked his chin down deeper into his scarf, suddenly feeling the cold more sharply. 

Sometimes he thought he had dreamed it all. He still had vivid dreams sometimes about snowball fights and days off school, about blue eyes and a quick smile. About strong arms around him, about burying his nose in a blue hoodie that smelled like the crisp air on a snowy morning. 

“Are you out there, Jack?” he said softly, clenching his fists when there was no response. “I have so many credits in theology I’m almost double majoring. I don’t have know it was real to believe in it. In you.” 

The wind murmured in the bare branches across the yard, sending a dusting of snow drifting down in a shimmering veil. Jamie squinted until his eyes ached, but saw nothing but the outline of trees. 

“You know why Rob broke up with me?” he continued, lifting his chin to the cloudy sky. “Said I wasn’t serious enough. I was too attached to my childhood, he didn’t think he could make a life with me.” The words were bitter in his mouth. “But I was serious about him.” He heaved a sigh. “I don’t need a sign, Jack. I know I’m probably too old to be talking to a winter sprite and thinking he’ll answer. Or, not thinking he will, but wishing he will.” He trailed off, staring down at his feet, toes beginning to go numb in his frayed blue socks. 

“I want to answer,” a voice said softly. 

Jamie jerked his head up and gaped at the figure in blue and brown, crouched on the porch railing. “Jack?” 

Jack’s eyes widened. “You can see me?” 

“Jack!” Taking three steps across the deck, snow soaking through his socks, Jamie opened his arms and wrapped them around Jack’s shoulders, who flailed a little with the arm holding his staff, and lost his balance, pitching forward off the rail and into Jamie’s chest. 

He weighed almost nothing but he was solid, real under Jamie’s hands that fisted in his blue sweater as he buried his nose in Jack’s hair. Jack was smaller than him, he realized, fitting comfortably under his chin, and he smelled just the same, like clean air and frosty mornings. 

“Of course I can see you. I never stopped looking.” 

Lifting his head, Jamie realized he was shaking, and he couldn’t bring himself to release Jack. But that was ok because Jack’s voice was trembling too when he said, “You didn’t?” 

“No. Jack...” Their faces were inches apart. Jamie could feel the pounding of his own heart and the way his body was singing. It wasn’t precisely arousal, more like total awareness, of every inch of Jack pressed against him, his stick-thin body, huge blue eyes, the snowflakes unmelting in his hair, his cool breath as it gusted against his lips. Jack was breathing quickly too, and there was a flush of color high on his cheekbones, vivid against his white skin. 

“I’ve never – I don’t...” he panted. 

“It’s ok. It’s easy, just...” Jamie tipped his head down and pressed his lips gently against Jack’s cool ones, just brief pressure and movement and a tiny mewling sound from Jack. 

“Jamie,” he whispered, and then pressed back, opening his mouth, nothing tentative about it, and it was different, kissing someone whose mouth was cold, but it was wet and clean-tasting like fresh snow, and his tongue was quick and eager and everywhere, and Jamie clutched at him, threading his fingers through silky silver hair and whimpering at the thought of that tongue on his body, on his cock, leaving cool trails hyper sensitive to the air. He shuddered and lapped at Jack’s mouth, wanting more of him, wanting all of him. 

From inside he heard his mother’s voice, calling faintly. “Jamie? Do you want dessert? Are you still upstairs Jamie?” 

Reluctantly, Jamie pulled away, looking down at Jack, and felt something sharp in his chest at just how vulnerable Jack’s wide eyes were. “Is that...?” he started. 

Jamie kissed him again, quickly. “That’s not all. Not even close. I want... God, Jack, you have no idea, how long, the things I’ve dreamed about. Will you wait for me? Please?” 

“Yes. Of course.” 

“I’ll tell them I’m sick. Five minutes.” Jamie couldn’t feel his feet. “Ten. I might need to run my toes under hot water. In my room?”

Jack’s eyes flickered. There were ice crystals in his lashes. “Ten minutes.” He grinned, broad and bright, and then was gone in a rush of freezing wind, leaving snowflakes swirling in the air. But Jamie didn’t have to believe that Jack would be there when he got to his room – he knew it.

**Author's Note:**

> And then they have sex! Yay!   
> This fandom ate my brain totally against my will.   
> Title is from a Christmas carol I heard somewhere once, I think. Probably.


End file.
